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[University of Illinois at Chicago] 
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5 March 2010 
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Women & Criminal Justice
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Women and Drug Use
Beth E. Richie
aa
Departments of African American Studies and Criminology, Law and Justice, University of Illinois atChicago, USA
To cite this Article
Richie, Beth E.(2007) 'Women and Drug Use', Women & Criminal Justice, 17: 2, 137 — 143
To link to this Article: DOI:
10.1300/J012v17n02_10
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J012v17n02_10
Full terms and conditions of use:http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdfThis article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial orsystematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply ordistribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contentswill be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug dosesshould be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss,actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directlyor indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.
 
Women and Drug Use:The Case for a Justice Analysis
Beth E. Richie
SUMMARY.
Extensivedatalinkwomen’suseofdrugsandtheirsubse-quent involvement in illegal activity to their growing involvement withthe criminal justice system. Although research has established causalfactors and consequences for drug use among women, these factors donot take into account the fundamental social injustices that also contrib-ute to drug use among women, including interactions with social institu-tions, social sigma, and punitive public policy. This paper discusses theimportance of developing theoretical frameworks and measures forassessing social (in)justice that would allow for it to be operationalized,generalized, and tested for validity in order to help explain what justiceis and how injustice works as a broader causal mechanism in the grow-ing problem of women and drug use.
doi:10.1300/J012v17n02_10
[Articlecopies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800- HAWORTH. E-mail address: <docdelivery@haworthpress.com> Website:<http://www.HaworthPress.com> ©2006byTheHaworthPress,Inc.Allrightsreserved.]
KEYWORDS.
Women, drug use, criminal justice system, social justice,social injustice, marginalization, causal factors, disadvantaged, socialstigma
Beth E. Richie is Professor in the Departments of African American Studies andCriminology, Law and Justice, University of Illinois at Chicago.
[Haworthco-indexing entrynote]:“WomenandDrugUse:TheCaseforaJusticeAnalysis.”Richie,BethE. Co-published simultaneously in
Women & Criminal Justice
(The Haworth Press, Inc.) Vol. 17, No. 2/3,2006, pp. 137-143; and:
Drugs, Women, and Justice: Roles of the Criminal Justice System for Drug-Affected Women
(ed: James A. Swartz, Patricia O’Brien, and Arthur J. Lurigio) The Haworth Press, Inc., 2006,pp.137-143.SingleormultiplecopiesofthisarticleareavailableforafeefromTheHaworthDocumentDeliveryService[1-800-HAWORTH,9:00a.m.-5:00p.m.(EST).E-mailaddress: docdelivery@haworthpress.com].
Available online at http://wcj.haworthpress.com
©
2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.doi:10.1300/J012v17n02_10
137 
 D o w nl o ad ed  B y : [ U ni v e r si t y  of  Illi n oi s  a t  Chi c a g o]  A t : 17 :35 5  M a r ch 2010
 
 INTRODUCTION 
Thereisextensivedatathatlinkswomen’suseofdrugsandtheirsub-sequent involvement in illegal activity resulting in their growing pres-ence in the population who are incarcerated or otherwise under thesurveillance and control of the criminal legal system in this country.Scholars, policy makers, intervention specialists, criminal justice pro-fessionals, advocates and community members alike understand thatthis is one of the most serious problems facing society today, as evi-denced by morbidity and mortality rates, incarceration statistics, datafrom child protective services and other bureaucratic institutions andcourt records. Moreover, anecdotal evidence from neighborhood levelanalysesatteststothepressingnatureoftheproblemofwomenandsub-stance abuse.A review of the literature reveals several epistemological trends inthe data that describe the problem. One body of research looks at indi-vidual level psychological analyses of causation. Other studies attemptto recognize the link between substance abuse and other social prob-lems such as poverty and violence. There are important accounts of theways that certain groups of women are disproportionately affected bythe problem and significant evaluation research of program effective-ness and model intervention strategies.Much of this is very good research that stands up to the most ambi-tious standards of scientific rigor; the research questions are good ones,the methodological approaches are sound, the samples are appropriate,and the analytic strategies are well thought out. In the aggregate, theconclusions from this body of work illuminate many of the factors thatareimportanttotheunderstandingaboutwomenandtheirdrugabuseincontemporary society. These conclusions could be summarized in thefollowing way.Women use drugs for a number of reasons. While some of the causalfactors have been established as similar to the reasons that men usedrugs,thereareparticularriskfactorsthatpre-disposewomentosub-stance abuse, including relational subordination and exposure to inti-mate partner violence. Another area of gender difference is the effectand consequences of drug abuse. Pharmacological research has estab-lished that certain drugs have a unique physiological effect on womenandsocialanalysesrevealthatsociety’sresponsetotheproblemofsub-stance abuseis,inmanyways,moresevere.Inaddition,ithasbeenshownthat the process of recovery for women is different and that programsneed to take what is called a “gender-specific approach” to treatment.
138 DRUGS, WOMEN, AND JUSTICE 
 D o w nl o ad ed  B y : [ U ni v e r si t y  of  Illi n oi s  a t  Chi c a g o]  A t : 17 :35 5  M a r ch 2010
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